She Never Listens
by Iridium
Summary: Kagome never cared about old legends and stories from her grandfather, but when she is dragged into the well jii-chan searches the shrine for some sort of insight, and finds something surprising.


She Never Listens  
  
by Iridium  
  
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"She never listens. Youth, never caring about the past… kids these days will be the end of Japan!" thought Grandfather Higurashi.  
  
"You remember what tomorrow is, right?"   
  
*Sigh* "Could I ever forget my adorable granddaughter's birthday?" said Higurashi-san to his inattentive granddaughter, Kagome.  
  
"Wow! For me?!" Said Kagome with obvious excitement as he handed her a large, well wrapped box.  
  
"It's early, but… Happy Birthday!"  
  
Kagome practically ripped the box to shreds only to find yet another old, moldy (and this time rather disgusting) artifact jii-chan dug up from one of the shrine's many storehouses.  
  
"It's the mummified hand of a Kappa water spri-…." Was all jii-chan said before Kagome stopped listening, and tried to think of what to do with her 'gift'.  
  
"She'll never be a shrine priestess; I don't know why I try. Maybe Souta would've appreciated this a little more…" he thought as Kagome proceeded to give Buyo a little snack.  
  
Kagome had always lived at the shrine, though she'd never really bothered to learn anything about it. "Why care?" she thought, "What does it matter, this place isn't important to anyone, just some lame tourist attraction." She'd always felt a kind of fear, of the various parts of the musty, dark, old shrine, with it's many mysterious artifacts and sealed areas that hadn't been opened or sometimes looked at for hundreds of years— though she had grown accustomed to it.  
  
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"Mama! Jii-chan!"   
  
"What is it Souta?" mama said as she stopped her little boy who was running away from the mini-shrine, screaming, and white as a sheet. Souta let out a long unbroken stream of half-syllables, which mama only caught a word or two of.  
  
"Kagome…. Buyo... monster! … well" was all she got before he started sobbing into her shoulder.  
  
"What's this, mama?" said jii-chan, as he made his way outside to see what was the commotion.   
  
"I don't know, but I think something really scared Souta."  
  
"Kagome, you've got to help Kagome! Lets go! Hurry!" Souta said insistently as he tugged on his jii-chan's hakama.  
  
Grandfather Higurashi decided not to ask questions and just go along with what the little boy was trying to say to him. He followed as Souta nearly sprinted over to the old well shrine. "Souta, was your sister in there?"  
  
"Hai!"  
  
Jii-chan entered the shrine, noticing the splintered cover of the well scattered across the floor, as the little boy clung to his side.  
  
"It came out of there! The monster took Kagome down the well! You've gotta do something!"  
  
Not sure what was really going on, jii-chan walked cautiously over to the well, and peered down into the inky blackness that lay at the bottom. He could barely discern, with his ancient eyes, the earth that lay at the bottom of the well—though there was no sign of Kagome nor any kind of a monster or demon. "I don't see anything Souta. Are you sure about what you saw?" he said in a serious tone, without a taking his eyes from the bottom of the well.  
  
"Hai! The monster broke out of the well when onee-san was looking for Buyo, and she was pulled in!"   
  
Jii-chan turned around slowly, wary of whatever evil may still be lurking in the well-shrine, despite the fact that he wasn't sure he believed Souta's story. "Souta, you and mama go inside. I'll be there in a minute and we'll talk about what you saw."   
  
Souta knew his jii-chan was being very serious, and he dashed off to the house.  
  
Higurashi-san continued to search the well house, and once he was confident there was no evil youki lurking within, no less than normal, anyways, he slowly left the shrine, pondering the riddle before him.  
  
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"You must've been dreaming!" said jii-chan with a huff. He acted like he was a bit angry, but he wanted to indulge Souta, as well as the little nagging part of his mind that still said the boy was telling the truth.  
  
"But, grampa, I saw it!"  
  
As soon as grandfather Higurashi shone his flashlight down the well, it lighted upon the scared face of his granddaughter. "Jii-chan! Souta!"  
  
Once he had recovered from shock, and made sure he wasn't going to have a heart attack, he went about getting rope and pulling Kagome from the well, who he now noticed was wearing the robes of a Miko.  
  
Kagome immediately rushed out of the well house and stopped just outside and took in her surroundings. "Kagome! Where have you been!?" said jii-chan.   
  
"We've been terrified!" Souta interjected, "What happened to your clothes…?"  
  
Kagome immediately rushed to her grandfather and began sobbing into his chest. "Jii-chan! I was so scared! *sob*"  
  
"Kagome…" he said with shock and concern, "What in the world happened?"  
  
Grandfather Higurashi comforted his young granddaughter, all while wondering just where she had been the past couple of days. "Let's get you inside," he said, smiling and wiping her tears. Kagome looked up at him, her tears slowing to a trickle, nodding and smiling a little herself.  
  
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"Could Kagome's story be true?" asked Mama. Kagome had just sat down to tea with her family (before rushing off to a hot bath), recounting her fantastical tale of the Sengoku Jidai and the half-demon she had met there. Everyone seemed riveted to their seats (all except Buyo, who dozed lazily at Souta's feet), letting their tea grow cold, hardly sipped at.  
  
Jii-chan sat in thought, trying to recall something of the legend of the Shikon no Tama. He had tried to retell it earlier to Kagome, but he couldn't actually remember it anyways. It had been long since he had first heard it—he was sure she wouldn't listen anyways— so why not try to tell her something interesting? Besides, more pressing was the bone-eater's well. Where had Kagome really gone, could the old well have really sent her to another era?  
  
"C'mon gramps, you know it's true!" said Souta, shaking jii-chan out of his contemplation. "A monster came out of the well and grabbed her, and…."  
  
"I can't just sit here!" proclaimed Higurashi-san, as he stomped off to get his ancient warding scrolls to seal the evil well forever. It would not take Kagome again!  
  
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Grandfather Higurashi sat down to his tea just as Kagome came out of the shower drying her hair.  
  
"I sealed it with new, wonder working spell scrolls! That well will remain shut, forever!"  
  
Kagome didn't give him a response, so he assumed she was pleased and went back to his tea. Even though the well was shut, he still wondered at the details of Kagome's story. Could the Shikon no Tama have been reborn in his granddaughter? "She never listened to my story about the jewel, and she was carrying it all along! Silly girl, doesn't know when she needs to listen. Now maybe she'll take my legends seriously!" he thought, amused with himself.  
  
He sat like that, drinking his tea, still trying to remember the true tale of the jewel, until he smelled the aroma of oden, forcing him to finally notice mama's presence in the kitchen. Mama called Kagome and Souta to the table, and, as usual, Souta began with a barrage of questions aimed at the wise-old priest, and Kagome immediately focused her attention on the food.  
  
"Is the well ever gonna' open up again?" Souta queried.  
  
"Of course not!" he replied, somewhat indignantly. "I sealed it with powerful scrolls. No demon, monster, or ghost in all the heavens and hells can break through them!" he concluded, recovering his honor and successfully impressing Souta.  
  
Meanwhile, Kagome has begun greedily eating her oden, even faster than usual. "Kagome, you should trust my mystical powers as well, and…" he paused, realizing his mistake. "… she's not listening" he said, deflated.  
  
Suddenly, with a loud *crack*, Inuyasha burst into the kitchen, surprising everyone, especially Kagome. "Who told you that you could come home, eh?!" he snarled.  
  
"B-but, how… you… where….?" replied a shocked and befuddled Kagome.  
  
"The well, stupid! Where else!?"  
  
"The well? But…"  
  
"It's a lie! Those barrier scrolls were passed down through generation after generation in this shrine! They…" he tried to continue his boasting, but was cut off by a self-righteous hanyou.  
  
"Scrolls? You mean these scraps of paper? You thought they could stop me?" Inuyasha said as he flapped a tattered piece of paper before the shocked and dismayed old man.  
  
Higurashi-san watched as the rest of the family fondled the young man's ears, which he was just now taking in himself. "That boy must be a demon! And a powerful one at that!" he thought as he silently lamented his ancient scrolls which were now reduced to confetti. "So her tale was true…."  
  
"Inuyasha, what's that strand of hair on your sleeve?" Kagome exclaimed.  
  
"What hair?"  
  
"You can't see it?" said Kagome, just before she began to bleed.  
  
"Kagome, you're bleeding…"  
  
The family tried to follow as Kagome sprinted off out of the house, but they were far too slow for her and the young demon-boy she had befriended. They arrived at the mini-shrine just as Kagome and Inuyasha were bickering.  
  
"What's goin' on?" Souta questioned.  
  
"Stay out, you musn't come in!" Kagome yelled just as she slammed the door shut. Her family stood there uncertain of what to do, as they heard strange noises from inside.  
  
"Kagome! Open the door, Kagome!!" yelled jii-chan as he banged on the door. They heard no response, just a lot of yelling and moving around by the young demon and Kagome—like some sort of battle were going on inside. They could make out some of what they said, including one thing that concerned them: "Inuyasha, we're going back!"  
  
Soon after the noise ceased, jii-chan cautiously opened the door to see what had happened. He was rather shocked to see no sign of either Kagome or the demon-boy, in addition to the splintered remains of the seal on the well.   
  
"Where did she go now?" Souta said as he rushed over to the well, no longer afraid of any monsters, certain he would be protected by his grandfather's spiritual powers. Mama and jii-chan approached the well also.  
  
"She's gone!" Mama exclaimed, more surprised that her daughter had run off again than anything.  
  
"What do we do, jii-chan?" Souta asked the priest.  
  
"We must wait for Kagome to return. We cannot follow." He said, taking on the role he always tried to play.  
  
"Then let's go back inside and finish our dinner." Mama said, somewhat to the surprise of jii-chan and Souta.  
  
The two men of the house followed Higurashi-san, who tried to hide her concern with her motherly behavior. Jii-chan's thoughts, meanwhile, were far from food. "There must be something I can do, the legends must be able to tell me more about the well, the jewel, and this demon-boy, Inuyasha!" he thought, as he wandered back into the kitchen, trailing far behind Souta.   
  
"I am going to go consult the scrolls, to see if I can try and better explain Kagome's tale." He said confidently, to which mama shrugged, and Souta replied with slurping.  
  
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Jii-chan walked off, a little deflated, and gathered together his collections of ancient legends and his shrine histories. He decided to first search through the shrine history to try and find something about the well, the jewel, or even this demon. He read through a couple of generations of history, telling of the births and deaths of various villagers, and the occasional attack from a warlord, and the even rarer demon attack. He then started on a large volume written by a young miko named Kikyou. This set of scrolls was far more massive than the previous ones. It began describing how Kikyou's mother and father had died when she was young—when the village was attacked by a demon—and the discovery of her abilities to fight and kill youkai in the bettle where she had avenged their deaths. It then went into a brief description of her abilities, and her feelings about them. "I didn't ask for these abilities, but it is my duty to use them to protect the village and help those in need. I must dedicate my life to this, there is no other way." it read. The text then began describing the events of the village, starting just as it had before with birth and death records, and the healings performed at the shrine (which were numerous), including some notes about a thief, a man named Onigumo, whom Kikyou had cared for. It then described a visit by a group of people from what it called the village of the Youkai Taiji-Ya (village of the Demon Exterminators), who had recovered a jewel of great power—the Shikon no Tama—from a powerful demon who had horribly tainted it with evil. They had heard of the powers of the great Miko, Kikyou, and asked her if she could purify the jewel and protect it from those who would use it for evil. She agreed and did as she was asked.   
  
Jii-chan read excitedly, taking it all in eagerly and trying not to forget a single detail. The tale was wholly new to him, either because he had completely forgotten the tale of the Shikon no Tama, or because he had never heard it in full. The text then was filled with a list of countless demon attacks, which jii-chan assumed were for the jewel, including some by a half-demon named Inuyasha. Jii-chan soon became worried and wondered just what kind of person Kagome had paired up with, and just how a lowly hanyou could've defeated his scrolls. With a huff, he returned to the scrolls.  
  
He read on, finding a long entry by Kikyou. It recounted the story of how Kikyou and Inuyasha had first met, and why she had not killed him—she knew him to be a hanyou and knew that he could be persuaded to listen to his human side—and how she had fallen in love with him. Kikyou then went on to detail their plan to use the Shikon no Tama to make Inuyasha human, to destroy the jewel and let them live together happily. The next page was written by a different hand, that of a young girl. The girl identified herself as Kaede, the younger sister of Kikyou, and she recounted Inuyasha's rampage and the death of her sister. Jii-chan pondered what he had just read. "That Inuyasha does not sound like a trustworthy person! But, he is obviously not sealed to a tree any longer. I must read on to find out if he is a danger to Kagome."   
  
He turned to the next volume, authored by Kaede, and began to see, once again, the standard records of births and deaths. He then turned to an entry describing the unsealing of Inuyasha by a girl from 'a foreign land', named Kagome. Jii-chan was shocked. "This must be our Kagome! Finally, what I've been looking for!" He read through even more excitedly than before, reading the same tale he had just been told by Kagome. It then went further, much to his surprise, recounting the incident with Yura of the Hair, the tale of Sesshoumaru and Tetsusaiga, and even further. He read of Naraku, the half demon formed from Onigumo who sought the jewel. He read on and on into the evening until he came to the story of how Inuyasha and Kagome defeated Naraku together. He went on to read about the completion of the jewel, and the blossoming love between Inuyasha and Kagome. The volume ended suddenly, and he wondered why that was so.   
  
He turned to the next volume, to find it was written by Higurashi Kagome no Miko, which surprised him even more. "Kagome, a miko? She never was interested in the priesthood, much less my stories!" He read the first entry. "Well, we've finally defeated Naraku, and the jewel is gone! I'm so happy, now Inuyasha and I can live together here in the village—-with frequent visits home of course!" Jii-chan couldn't help feeling that this was aimed at him, whether directly or not, "Inuyasha and I are going to be expanding the shrine to include the Go-Shimboku and the bone-eaters well, at Kaede-baba's insistence. Kaede is glad to be able to retire a little, though she still does do a lot here in the village. I only hope I can live up to my duties as well as she has, but I always have Inuyasha to help me." Jii-chan stopped reading, satisfied with what he had learned.  
  
Jii-chan finally got up from his desk, and wandered into the kitchen for some tea and to tell mama what he had learned.  
  
"Well, father, did you learn anything? Is there anything about Kagome' story in the shrine histories?" asked mama, handing him a cup of tea.  
  
"Yes, indeed." Grandfather Higurashi then began to recount the full tale of the Shikon no Tama, up until the end of the story Kagome had told them earlier. "So it is in fact true, as she told us."  
  
Mama sipped her tea thoughtfully.  
  
Jii-chan continued. "The scrolls then tell even more, telling of the battle for the jewel between Inuyasha, Kagome and their friends with an extremely powerful demon." Mama was obviously uneasy hearing this. "They eventually went on to defeat him, and complete the shattered Shikon Jewel. In fact, it turns out that our Kagome eventually became a priestess and she expanded this shrine to include the Go-Shimboku tree as well as the bone-eaters well." He said proudly, which mama seemed to approve of, though she was rather surprised that Kagome would choose to become a priestess.  
  
"What about that demon-boy Inuyasha?" asked mama.  
  
Grandfather Higurashi was a little unsure of what to say. "Well… he and Kagome become good friends. In fact, they seem to have fallen in love with each other." He said, uneasily as mama listened intently.  
  
Mama laughed, breaking the tension. "Oh good! I'm glad my little girl can find her true love. I'm sure he's a nice boy."  
  
Jii-chan contemplated the implications of knowing Kagome's future. "We must let Kagome follow her destiny, that is certain, but what are we to do in the meantime?" he thought. "We must never let her know her destiny, she must be allowed to live it out on her own." He finally announced.  
  
Mama sipped her tea again, "I agree. I'm just glad I don't have to worry about her going off to fight demons in the feudal era!"  
  
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Souta quietly tiptoed back to his bed, hoping to not be caught eavesdropping. "That dog-eared boy loves my sister?" he pondered, as he thought about what it'd be like to have a half-demon for a brother.  
  
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Did you like it? Tell me what you thought, and if I can/should do any more with this. Tell me whatever you think, by posting a review for me! I would very much appreciate it!  
  
-- Ja ne, Iridium 


End file.
